Common imagers, such as interline transfer charge-coupled devices (IT-CCDs) and certain complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras, such as so called 4-T pixel sensors (also known as frame-shuttered imagers), form an electronic image by simultaneously exposing all of its pixel elements to the object to be imaged. To image a moving object with such an imager, a frame shutter can be provided to briefly open and thereby to momentarily expose all of the imager's pixels at the same time, resulting in a “freeze frame” image. The time for which the shutter remains open—the frame exposure time—determines the maximum speed at which the object to be imaged can move while producing an adequate quality image. While mechanical shuttering can facilitate satisfactory imaging of fast moving objects, mechanical shuttering mechanisms adversely affect the complexity, cost, size, weight, power, reliability, and durability of an imaging system.
On the other hand, a rolling-reset imager, such as certain CMOS cameras, forms an image by sequentially activating individual rows of pixels within the pixel grid array, cycling through every row at a rate equal to the imager's frame rate. Each row is exposed for N units of time during each frame, where N specifies the exposure time. This is accomplished by enabling gathering of pixel values for a row N rows before that particular row is to be read out. The readout process clears the row. This method enables the imager to capture images over a wide range of intensity, as each row can be exposed for as little as one unit time and for as long as the entire frame time. An unfortunate consequence of this exposure method is that each row is exposed at a slightly different time. If N=1, for example, then each row exposes sequentially. If a longer exposure time (N>1) is implemented, then each row is staggered by 1/N of the total exposure time. If the imager is trying to capture a moving object, this staggered exposure causes motion artifacts. For example, if a thin vertically oriented object, such as a pencil, moves from left to right in front of such an imager at a sufficiently high speed, the image will be captured as a diagonally oriented pencil, due to the effects of staggered exposure time.
Rolling-reset CMOS imagers are generally less expensive than CCD imagers due to the relative ease of the CMOS process compared to the CCD process, and rolling-reset CMOS imagers are generally less expensive than frame-shuttered CMOS imagers since they typically have fewer transistors per pixel. However, it is challenging to operate a rolling-rest imager in a freeze-frame mode of operation. In order for all pixels to get exposed at the same time, each row must be set up to expose for the entire frame time. This large exposure time causes considerable motion blur effects. A mechanical shutter can be used in conjunction with a full frame exposure, to limit the intrusion of light to a narrow time period, corresponding to the desired exposure time. However, a mechanical shutter can be bulky, expensive, and less reliable than all-electronic means.